Rotary motor



G. PLATO ROTARY MOTOR Jilly 31, 1934.

Filed Dec. 15, 1950 IN V EN TOR. Guam/P07 P A /L G m A TTORNEY Patented July 31, 1934 STATES PATIENT? OFFI'QE 1,968,537 ROTARY Moron GerhardtPlato, Chicago, Ill. Application December 13, 1930, Serial No. 502,098 3 Claims. (01. 121-77) My invention relates to an improved rotary motor for operation by compressed fluid, and pertains particularly to an improved distributing valve construction for controlling the flow of the ""6 fluid to the cylinders of the motor.

The abovefand other objects of my invention will 'mor'e'ifully appearin Connection with the particular descriptionof the drawing, illustratmg a preferred embodiment of my invention, said 10' drawing being as follows:

, ig. l'is a central, sectional view through my mdtor,"taken axially through the main shaft of the motor and through the distributor valve 1 thereof,'this'viewbeing taken along the line 1--1 in Figfi2,

Fig. "2 is a. transverse, sectional view through my mbto'r this View being talien along the line 2- 2 in Fig. 1,

Fig. '3 is a sectional View of a part of the con- 20- struction shown in Fig. 1, taken along the line 3--3"of'tlrat figure, and v a A 'Figp l is a side-view of "the distributor valve removed from the motor construction.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the "several views.

As shown in Fig. 1, my motor consists of end plates 1L and IR, which carry bearings 2, 2 to in turn-support the main shaft 3 of the motor. The shaft 3 has rigidly secured thereto, rotary pistons 4L and 4B, between which "a partition plate 5 surrounds the shaft 3 within the casing 6 of the cylinder, which partition is held in place by set screws "7. The cylinder compartment shown in Fig. 2, -is provided with two ports, the port 8 being the exhaust port, and the port 9 being the intake port, the other cylinder compartment illustrated in Fig. 1, being provided with similar ports of which the intake port 9 is shown insaidlatter figure. Thecylinder casing 6 as shown in Fig. 1, is provided with a bore parallel with the shaft 3 and communicating with theintake ports 9, 9', inwhich bore a distributing valve 10 is mounted for rotary movement to control the flow of fluid under pressure to the ports 9,9. The distributing valve 10 is tubular, and is provided with ports and 21 which alternately communicate-with the ports 9, 9' to supply compressed fluid from the interior of the distributing valve to the said two ports, when the corresponding pistons are in position to be rotatcd by compressed mixture admitted to the cylinder-compartments. The shaft 3 has rigidly secured thereto agear 24,'and the distributing valveflll rigidly secured thereto a gear 26,

the gears 24 and 26 'beingconnectedby an idler gear "25 carried by the end plate IR. The gears 24 and26 are of the same diameterfto rotate the distributing valve '10 at 'thesarne speed 'asjthe shaft 3,so that a driving impulse is communicated to each cylinder compartment for each rotationof theshaft 3, and for each rotationof the distributing valve 10. The distributing valve 10 is provided'wi'th bearings '22and "23 carriedby the end plates 1L and 1R, respectively, to support the distributing valve 10 in proper position in its bore in the cylinder casing '6, to control'the intake ports of the motor.

At its end remote from'tl'i'e gear '26, "the distributing valve 10 carries a perforated sleeve 11' having limited angularmovement on the .dis-. tributing valve, for which the perforations in the sleeve'may be moved into andfrorn registry with corresponding perforations in the cylindrical wall of the distributing valve. As shown in Figs. 1 and 3, governor mechanism is carried by the distributing Valve 10 adjacent the sleeve 1;l,"consisting of a lever 17 pivoted at 19 to'the adjacent end wall of the distributing valve, the outer end of said lever extending through a slot 18 therefor in the wall of the sleeve 11. As shown in Fig. 3, the end of "the distributing valve is provided with agroove 16, in which a pin 15 is mounted to receive one end of a spring 14, the other end of which is connected with the lever 17, V so that adjustment of the governor mechanism may "beeffected by movement of the pin 15 in theslot 16. When the distributing valve reaches a predetermined speed, the centrifugal force ac'ting on the lever 17, moves it on its pivotal support 19 against the action of the spring'l i, to movethe sleeve 11 angularly on the distributing valve 10 to displace the perforations in the sleeve 11 partly from alignment with the corresponding perforations in the distributing valve 10, which I action continues until the speed of the motor permitted by the setting of the .governor mechanism is reached. When the speed of the shaft3 is decreasedfor any reason, for example by applying a load to it, the spring 14 moves the lever 17 in a direction the reverse of that described, and the perforations in the sleeve 11 are brought nearly or quite into registry with the corresponding perforations in the distributing valve 10, sothat "the fluid "under pressure may be supplied to the inside of the distributing valve 10 without restriction or appreciable loss of pressure.

As shown in Fig. Lethe sleeve 11 is contained in a receptacle therefor, in the end plate 1L, which receptacle is in communicatienjwith a su ply port 27 for supplyin the motor with fluid 11o and the passageways 29, are enclosed by a plate 30 under pressure as indicated by the arrow adjacent said supply port, the flow of the spent driving fluid exhausted from the motor being indicated by the arrow extending from the port 8 in Fig. 2. The sleeve 11 is held in place on the distributing valve 10 in any convenient manner, for example by a pin 12 carried by the distributing valve 10 extending into a slot 13 formed through the sleeve 11, as shown in Fig. 4.

As indicated for the piston 4B, in Fig. 2, the pistons 4R, and 4L are eccentrically mounted on the shaft 3, the only difference being that preferably they extend in opposite directions from the shaft, so that the communication of driving impulses to the cylinders may be alternated. Each of the pistons is of smaller diameter than the cylinder bore containing it, and a curved abutment 28 carried in a curved guideway in the cylinder casing 6, is employed in each cylinder compartment to engage the cylindrical surface of the piston therein, to separate said cylinder compartment into a driving portion and an exhaust portion. Each of the intake ports 9, 9' is connected by a passageway as illustrated at 29 in Fig. 2, with the outer end of the curved guideway containing the corresponding curved abutment 28,

as a result of which at the instant that fluid under pressure is communicated by the distributing valve 10 to one of the ports 9, 9, the fluid under pressure is also communicated to the outer edge of the corresponding curved abutment, to hold it inwardly against the cylindrical surface of the corresponding piston, as long as fluid under pressure is in the corresponding one of the intake ports 9, 9. The curved guideways referred to secured to the cylinder casing 6 in any convenient manner not shown. Said passageways are illustrated at 29,29 in Fig. 1.

As a result of the construction described, it

will be understood that when the motor is working under load so that its speed is below the maximum speed permitted by the governor mechanism, the fluid under pressure, for example compressed air, is supplied to the inside of the distributing valve with practically no restriction,

as a result of which, for that condition, the source of the fluid under pressure is in effect brought as closely to the cylinder in which it is to be used, as mechanical limitations of the valve mechanism will permit, that is to the outer end of each of the intake ports 9, 9. For this condition, when the ports 20 and 21 of the distributing valve communicate with the intake ports 9, 9, the only restriction practically to the free flow of fluid under pressure into the cylinder compartments, is that developed in the intake ports 9, 9', which ports as indicated for the port 9 in Fig. 2, may be quite short.

As illustrated in Fig. 2 a single wall of the casing 6 separates the bore containing the distributing valve 10, from the cylinder compartments, which wall is preferably as thin as mechanical limitations will permit, as a result of which the ports 9, 9', as illustrated in Fig. 2, may

' be of a length less than their width, making the opposition to fluid flow through the ports 9, 9, negligible.

In practice, I find it desirable to proportion the ports 20 and 21 in the distributing valve so that for any power stroke of the motor, the

corresponding one of the ports 20 and 21 is in communication with its intake port 9, or 9' as the case may be, for only a part of the said power stroke, for example for three-fifths of said stroke,

after which the power stroke is completely by the expansion of the fluid retained under pressure in the corresponding cylinder compartment by the closing of the intake port by the distributing valve. It will be noted that although the cylinder compartments may be cut off from the source of supply of the fluid under pressure as described and although the distributing valve 10 may be closed as far as either of the intake ports 9 9 is concerned, as long as the corresponding cylinder compartment contains driving fluid under pressure, corresponding pressure is exerted through the corresponding one of the passageways 29, 29' upon the rear edge of the corresponding curved abutment 28. In this manner, each curved abutment 28 is held positively against its piston, as long as fiuid under pressure is present in a cylinder compartment to drive the piston. It will also be observed that the curvature of the abutments 28 is in a direction tending to relieve binding strains that might otherwise be developed on the abutments by the lateral pressures on their inner edges due to their engagement with their pistons, as a result of which the abutments move in their guideways much more freely than if they were not curved as indicated. It will further be observed that although the communication of fiuid under pressure to each piston may be cut on" sooner than the completion of a half rotation of the piston from its position at the opening of the distributing valve, the expansion of the fluid under pressure in the cylinder compartment after the closing of the distributing valve, continues the driving of the piston until the distributing valve supplies fluid under pressure to start the next power stroke in the other cylinder compartment, and in this way the application of driving effort to the shaft 3 is practically continuous. Furthermore, on account of utilizing the expansion of the driving fluid as described the amount of energy wasted by discharging driving fluid under pressure through the exhaust ports, is reduced to a minimum.

While I have shown my invention in the particular embodiment above described it will be understood that I do not limit myself to this exact construction as I may employ equivalents known to the art at the time of the filing of this application without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A distributor valve construction for a rotary motor having a casing forming cylinder compartments containing eccentric rotary pistons carried by and rotating with a main shaft extending axially through said compartments and having also sliding abutments in guideways in said casing and extending laterally from said compartments, said abutments separating said compartments into power and exhaust chambers, consisting of the combination of a rotary cylindrical tubular valve having closed ends and having ports controlling flow of compressed fluid from within said valve into the cylinder compartments, a

casing having a bore fitting said valve and second supply of driving therein, and gearing for driving said valve, each of said abutments being curved and of substantially uniform thickness and having its concave side towards the corresponding exhaust chamher.

2. In a rotary motor having a casing forming cylinder compartments containing eccentric rotary pistons carried by and rotating with a main shaft extending axially through said compartments, a laterally curved and imperforate abutment for separating each of said compartments into power and exhaust chambers, said casing having correspondingly curved-guideways extending outwardly laterally from said cylinder compartments to support said abutments, each of said abutments being of substantially uniform thickness and having its concave side towards the corresponding exhaust chamber.

3. In a rotary motor having a casing forming cylinder compartments containing eccentric rotary pistons carried by and rotating with a main shaft extending axially through said compartments, a laterally curved and imperforate abutment for separating each of said compartments into power and exhaust chambers, said casing having correspondingly curved guideways extending outwardly laterally from said cylinder compartments to support said abutments, said casing having supply ports opening into said power compartments, and a valve for supplying fluid under pressure to said supply ports, said casing having passageways extending from said supply ports to the outer edges of said abutments, each of said abutments being of substantially uniform thickness and having its concave side towards the corresponding exhaust chamber.

GERHARDT PLATO. 

